Your cousin tells you about this amazing new dietary supplem

Your cousin tells you about this amazing new dietary supplement he found on the internet that boosts energy and increases endurance. You look up the main ingredient and learn that this chemical is a form of pyruvic acid. This form has been found to be able to cross the double membrane and enter the mitochondria. You have just learned about cellular respiration in your biology class, so give your cousin a detailed explanation of the likely effect of these pills on the metabolic pathways in his cells.

What process in cellular respiration is likely to be affected, how does it normally function and what will change as a result of taking these supplements?

Is it likely to increase energy and endurance?

Why or why not?

Be sure to discuss enzymes, membranes, and ATP.

Solution

What process in cellular respiration is likely to be affected, how does it normally function and what will change as a result of taking these supplements?

Glycolysis of glucose produce pyruvate and supplies energy from citric acid cycle finally increases endurance. Higher levels of pyruvic acid pill as described in the above case generate more lactate may cause muscle pain and fatigue. Most of the biological reactions are thermodynamically coupled. For example, in case of glycolysis, the enzyme pyruvate kinase catalyzes the oxidation of phosphoenolpyruvate into pyruvate, and this reaction releases energy (exothermic). Therefore, more consumption of pyruvic acid pills are leading to more energy. This energy drives the phosphorylation of ADP, which results in ATP production. Although downstream to the commitment step of glycolysis, pyruvate kinase is mainly involved in \"rate-affecting step\" (rate -limiting step) & an important point of glycolytic control by allosteric regulation. This is because “pyruvate” can enter either \"TCA cycle for aerobic respiration to generate ATP across mitochondrial membrane or it can enter into \"anaerobic respiration\" to generate lactate (muscle fibres) thus have meticulous significance of this relative to overall metabolic flux. This enzyme involved glycolytic reaction step has associated with either energetically favorable or irreversible reaction mechanism.

Is it likely to increase energy and endurance? Why or why not?

Yes, it increases energy but at higher consumption of pyruvic acid pills is leading to may produce endurance due to high lactate levels